Thursday, February 21, 2013
The Seven Days
On page 156, Guitar says "White people are unnatural. As a race they are unnatural. And it takes a strong effort of the will to overcome an unnatural enemy". What do you think he means by this? Do you think that killing innocent white people took a "strong effort of the will"? Do you think that the actions of the Seven Days are just considering the equal or even harsher crimes that whites committed to blacks?
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I think that Guitar defines white people unnatural because they don't have the same feelings that black people have and have no reasons for what they do while black people do things (good and bad) because they feel something and have reactions. The actions of the Seven Days are even harsher because they are killing for revenge innocent whites and since they consider themselves better people they shouldn't replay in the same way because revenge in my opinion brings them nowhere.
ReplyDeleteA totally agree with Vale in that Guitar defines white people as unnatural because they have different feelings, ideals, and concepts than blacks do, and Guitar thinks that these feelings, ideals, and concepts are contradictory or weird compared to black's feelings, ideals, and concepts. I also agree that the Seven Days are much harsher because they are killing whites just as revenge. There is no reason behind it except that they want to remain even with the whites and show them that they are equal and whites shouldn't have superiority.
ReplyDeleteI think that what guitar is saying about whites being "unnatural" shows just how racist he is to whites as whites are to blacks. This is an interesting contradiction because while guitar is criticizing whites for their senseless hatred for blacks, by doing so he is becoming just as critical. Also, I think it is interesting how he says that it takes a "strong effort of the will to overcome an unnatural enemy" because what he and the seven days are doing seem almost cowardly. They find innocent targets to kill instead of solving the problem by finding those who actually kill blacks. I think that this shows a change in guitar because earlier on the book, he believed in justice and he was extremely involved in black rights movements, but I think that with time the feeling of hopelessness overcame him which led him to be a part of the seven days.
ReplyDeleteGuitar defines white people as unnatural because they have the ability to kill blacks without even a second thought. Guitar portrays this as a sport for whites. He says they are doing this out of anger and hatred towards the blacks and that what is made it unjustified. He believes that the only way to achieve justice for his race is to even the score by killing innocent white people because there a court does not exist to give out the justice he believes they deserve. By killing innocent whites out of vengeance makes the seven days just as unnatural as Guitar believes the white race is. Milkman points out that Guitar is contradicting himself by calling the white race evil and then turning around and doing the same thing. I think the Seven Days are not motivated by justice but are motivated by vengeance.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Merritt that the the members of the Seven Days mask their vengeance in 'justice'. They use justice as an excuse to kill innocent white people. They are only mirroring the racism that the white population shows to them. White people are 'unnatural' to Guitar because he can't understand them. He sees them as an entirely different species. The Seven Days isn't really doing what they want to do. They are actually making matters worse for themselves and their race by equalizing the deaths in their society.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you guys. I think that the reason Guitar gives to Milkman is highly racist. He says "what I am doing ain´t about hating white people. It´s about loving us. About loving you. My whole life is love." I think Guitar exactly reflects the racism of white people against black people. He tells to himself that it´s reasonable to kill the innocent whites, because of what they did in the past. Guitar believes that by killing the people he can erase the slave past of the blacks. What really made me think that Guitar is no better than the white killers is that at the beginning of his reasoning he tells Milkman how hard it is to kill a person, but later on when Milkman tells him that it will become a habit and he will be able to kill anybody; Guitar doesn´t say anything. He changes subject and questions Milkman. I think Guitar doesn´t say anything to his own defense, because he knows deep inside that the killing is becoming a habit and he is no better than the whites.
ReplyDeleteKristina, I completely agree with you especially about your point at the end that deep down he knows he is no better than the whites who kill. I think the only reason Guitar is part of the 7 days is because he had never experienced a time when people respected him because of who he is. Milkman on the other had, has always had the status that allows him to be respected. I think Milkman expects fairness and equality but Guitar knows that it does not exist. Guitar however only gets respect from his actions and he uses 7 days as a way of legitimizing the idea that justice is revenge and that revenge is justified if you think you are doing good things. So this makes him the same as the whites who kill because they think that they are doing something good.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Arnav. I think that Guitar justifies his actions by telling himself that what he's doing will gain him some sort of public respect in the eyes of fellow black people. While he himself is not doing any sort of good or justice within his community, he tells himself that what he's doing will help him be a better black man in the eyes of other black men, which really doesn't matter because the black men that he's trying to impress and gain the respect of are still just as much a target of the true "respected" majority, the whites. Either way, what he's doing can never be justified in the eyes of the people who truly matter because whites will always be dominant in his culture and in his mind. Enough will never be enough for him.
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